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luciameetsbooks's review
2.0
2.5 stars
TW: Rape, suicide, PTSD, a lot of blood
Not One of Us had a couple of amazing stories that even after finishing this book a couple of days ago I can still remember vividly what happened and the important messages those stories tried to portrait and succeeded at it. But unfortunately those stories weren't enough for me to love this anthology as a whole because there were a lot more stories that I didn't like, whether it was because of the characters or the pacing.
A lot of the stories I didn't like weren't unique enough for me to distinguish between them and that's not a good sign. Moreover, there were a few stories that I had to DNF because they were too gory for me, I just can't deal with people cutting open dead bodies even if those bodies aren't human.
On the other hand, I did like how the majority of the stories were amazingly diverse. These stories are written by a lot of different authors and that really showed in the stories, we got main characters from all over the world and with different sexualities. I adored to see diverse characters in a story where that diversity wasn't the main focus, it was just another characteristic of the person.
I would definitely recommend this book to people who love reading about aliens but not so much to people who are only starting to get into this genre because, from my experience being used to reading contemporary or low fantasy, starting with this book can be quite shocking and confusing at times.
---- RATINGS FOR EACH STORY ----
*Touring with the Alien - Carolyn Ives Gilman: 2 stars
*Laws of Survival - Nancy Kress: 3 stars
*At Play in the Fields - Steve Rasnic Tem: 3.5 stars
*The Ants of Flanders - Robert Reed: 2 stars
*Taking Care of God - Cixin Liu: 4 stars
*Water Scorpions - Rich Larson: DNF
*The Three Resurrections of Jessica Churchill - Kelly Robson: 5 stars (TW: Sexual assault, PTSD, suicide)
*Men Are Trouble - James Patrick Kelly: 1 stars (TW: Suicide)
*They Shall Salt the Earth with Seeds of Glass - Alaya Dawn Johnson: 3 stars
*Bits - Naomi Kritzer: 5 stars
*And Never Mind the Watching Ones - Keffy R. M. Kehrli: DNF
*Dark Heaven - Gregory Benford: 2 stars
*Nine-Tenths of the Law - Molly Tanzer: 2.5 stars
*Five Stages of Grief After the Alien Invasion: 3.5 stars
*Time of the Snake - A. M. Dellamonica: 4 stars
*The Fear Gun - Judith Berman: 3 stars
*Tendeléo's Story - Ian McDonald: 2 stars
*The Choice - Paul Mcauley: 3 stars
*Passage of Earth - Michael Swanwick: DNF
*Reborn - Ken Liu: 3.5 stars
*Story of Your Life - Ted Chiang: 3 stars
TW: Rape, suicide, PTSD, a lot of blood
Not One of Us had a couple of amazing stories that even after finishing this book a couple of days ago I can still remember vividly what happened and the important messages those stories tried to portrait and succeeded at it. But unfortunately those stories weren't enough for me to love this anthology as a whole because there were a lot more stories that I didn't like, whether it was because of the characters or the pacing.
A lot of the stories I didn't like weren't unique enough for me to distinguish between them and that's not a good sign. Moreover, there were a few stories that I had to DNF because they were too gory for me, I just can't deal with people cutting open dead bodies even if those bodies aren't human.
On the other hand, I did like how the majority of the stories were amazingly diverse. These stories are written by a lot of different authors and that really showed in the stories, we got main characters from all over the world and with different sexualities. I adored to see diverse characters in a story where that diversity wasn't the main focus, it was just another characteristic of the person.
I would definitely recommend this book to people who love reading about aliens but not so much to people who are only starting to get into this genre because, from my experience being used to reading contemporary or low fantasy, starting with this book can be quite shocking and confusing at times.
---- RATINGS FOR EACH STORY ----
*Touring with the Alien - Carolyn Ives Gilman: 2 stars
*Laws of Survival - Nancy Kress: 3 stars
*At Play in the Fields - Steve Rasnic Tem: 3.5 stars
*The Ants of Flanders - Robert Reed: 2 stars
*Taking Care of God - Cixin Liu: 4 stars
*Water Scorpions - Rich Larson: DNF
*The Three Resurrections of Jessica Churchill - Kelly Robson: 5 stars (TW: Sexual assault, PTSD, suicide)
*Men Are Trouble - James Patrick Kelly: 1 stars (TW: Suicide)
*They Shall Salt the Earth with Seeds of Glass - Alaya Dawn Johnson: 3 stars
*Bits - Naomi Kritzer: 5 stars
*And Never Mind the Watching Ones - Keffy R. M. Kehrli: DNF
*Dark Heaven - Gregory Benford: 2 stars
*Nine-Tenths of the Law - Molly Tanzer: 2.5 stars
*Five Stages of Grief After the Alien Invasion: 3.5 stars
*Time of the Snake - A. M. Dellamonica: 4 stars
*The Fear Gun - Judith Berman: 3 stars
*Tendeléo's Story - Ian McDonald: 2 stars
*The Choice - Paul Mcauley: 3 stars
*Passage of Earth - Michael Swanwick: DNF
*Reborn - Ken Liu: 3.5 stars
*Story of Your Life - Ted Chiang: 3 stars
graypeape's review
4.0
A solid collection of stories. As with any short story anthology, some stories will appeal to the reader more than others- this will, of course, depend on the tastes of the reader. Having said that, I didn't find a stinker in the bunch. I won't list which stories I liked best or least- I personally prefer not to be influenced ahead of time, I won't do it to others, but I found no stories lower than 3.5 stars, most were 4 or 5 stars.
luthereadingqueen's review
2.0
2.5 stars
TW: Rape, suicide, PTSD, a lot of blood
Not One of Us had a couple of amazing stories that even after finishing this book a couple of days ago I can still remember vividly what happened and the important messages those stories tried to portrait and succeeded at it. But unfortunately those stories weren't enough for me to love this anthology as a whole because there were a lot more stories that I didn't like, whether it was because of the characters or the pacing.
A lot of the stories I didn't like weren't unique enough for me to distinguish between them and that's not a good sign. Moreover, there were a few stories that I had to DNF because they were too gory for me, I just can't deal with people cutting open dead bodies even if those bodies aren't human.
On the other hand, I did like how the majority of the stories were amazingly diverse. These stories are written by a lot of different authors and that really showed in the stories, we got main characters from all over the world and with different sexualities. I adored to see diverse characters in a story where that diversity wasn't the main focus, it was just another characteristic of the person.
I would definitely recommend this book to people who love reading about aliens but not so much to people who are only starting to get into this genre because, from my experience being used to reading contemporary or low fantasy, starting with this book can be quite shocking and confusing at times.
---- RATINGS FOR EACH STORY ----
*Touring with the Alien - Carolyn Ives Gilman: 2 stars
*Laws of Survival - Nancy Kress: 3 stars
*At Play in the Fields - Steve Rasnic Tem: 3.5 stars
*The Ants of Flanders - Robert Reed: 2 stars
*Taking Care of God - Cixin Liu: 4 stars
*Water Scorpions - Rich Larson: DNF
*The Three Resurrections of Jessica Churchill - Kelly Robson: 5 stars (TW: Sexual assault, PTSD, suicide)
*Men Are Trouble - James Patrick Kelly: 1 stars (TW: Suicide)
*They Shall Salt the Earth with Seeds of Glass - Alaya Dawn Johnson: 3 stars
*Bits - Naomi Kritzer: 5 stars
*And Never Mind the Watching Ones - Keffy R. M. Kehrli: DNF
*Dark Heaven - Gregory Benford: 2 stars
*Nine-Tenths of the Law - Molly Tanzer: 2.5 stars
*Five Stages of Grief After the Alien Invasion: 3.5 stars
*Time of the Snake - A. M. Dellamonica: 4 stars
*The Fear Gun - Judith Berman: 3 stars
*Tendeléo's Story - Ian McDonald: 2 stars
*The Choice - Paul Mcauley: 3 stars
*Passage of Earth - Michael Swanwick: DNF
*Reborn - Ken Liu: 3.5 stars
*Story of Your Life - Ted Chiang: 3 stars
TW: Rape, suicide, PTSD, a lot of blood
Not One of Us had a couple of amazing stories that even after finishing this book a couple of days ago I can still remember vividly what happened and the important messages those stories tried to portrait and succeeded at it. But unfortunately those stories weren't enough for me to love this anthology as a whole because there were a lot more stories that I didn't like, whether it was because of the characters or the pacing.
A lot of the stories I didn't like weren't unique enough for me to distinguish between them and that's not a good sign. Moreover, there were a few stories that I had to DNF because they were too gory for me, I just can't deal with people cutting open dead bodies even if those bodies aren't human.
On the other hand, I did like how the majority of the stories were amazingly diverse. These stories are written by a lot of different authors and that really showed in the stories, we got main characters from all over the world and with different sexualities. I adored to see diverse characters in a story where that diversity wasn't the main focus, it was just another characteristic of the person.
I would definitely recommend this book to people who love reading about aliens but not so much to people who are only starting to get into this genre because, from my experience being used to reading contemporary or low fantasy, starting with this book can be quite shocking and confusing at times.
---- RATINGS FOR EACH STORY ----
*Touring with the Alien - Carolyn Ives Gilman: 2 stars
*Laws of Survival - Nancy Kress: 3 stars
*At Play in the Fields - Steve Rasnic Tem: 3.5 stars
*The Ants of Flanders - Robert Reed: 2 stars
*Taking Care of God - Cixin Liu: 4 stars
*Water Scorpions - Rich Larson: DNF
*The Three Resurrections of Jessica Churchill - Kelly Robson: 5 stars (TW: Sexual assault, PTSD, suicide)
*Men Are Trouble - James Patrick Kelly: 1 stars (TW: Suicide)
*They Shall Salt the Earth with Seeds of Glass - Alaya Dawn Johnson: 3 stars
*Bits - Naomi Kritzer: 5 stars
*And Never Mind the Watching Ones - Keffy R. M. Kehrli: DNF
*Dark Heaven - Gregory Benford: 2 stars
*Nine-Tenths of the Law - Molly Tanzer: 2.5 stars
*Five Stages of Grief After the Alien Invasion: 3.5 stars
*Time of the Snake - A. M. Dellamonica: 4 stars
*The Fear Gun - Judith Berman: 3 stars
*Tendeléo's Story - Ian McDonald: 2 stars
*The Choice - Paul Mcauley: 3 stars
*Passage of Earth - Michael Swanwick: DNF
*Reborn - Ken Liu: 3.5 stars
*Story of Your Life - Ted Chiang: 3 stars
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